Oct 31, 2018

Influencer Luka Sabbat sued for not shilling Spectacles on Instagram

2018, amirite?
Luka Sabbat, a social media influencer with 1.4 million Instagram
followers, is being sued for failure to, well, influence. According to a
lawsuit filed by PR Consulting Inc., Sabbat breached a $60,000 contract
he signed to promote Snap Spectacles on -- wait for it -- Instagram.
The public relations agency said that, as part of the deal, he was
supposed to post three Instagram Stories and one picture on his account.
But, as it turns out, Sabbat didn't fulfill his end of the deal: PR
Consulting Inc. claims he only made one Instagram story and that the
post he put up on his feed wasn't submitted to it for approval.

Apparently, he also agreed to be photographed in public "wearing product
tied to the 'Spectacles Marketing Campaign'" during Fashion Week in
Milan and Paris, but that never happened. Because of this, PR Consulting
now wants the $45,000 it gave Sabbat up front, plus interest and other
fees for "consequential and incidental damages." That amount of money
may seem crazy for just a few Instagram posts, but it's actually nothing
compared to the $1 million per post Kylie Jenner reportedly makes.

Even though this is one of the first lawsuits filed against an
influencer for breach of contract on an Instagram campaign, as The
Fashion Law reports, apparently there are many more like these happening
behind the scenes. This shouldn't come as a surprise, though,
considering how often influencers are caught for questionable behavior
on social media.

Remember that time Kendall Jenner was supposed to attend the doomed Fyre
Festival but didn't? (Although, in fairness, that could've been because
of how terribly organized the event was.) Or what about when Kim
Kardashian isn't being transparent about whether her posts are ads?
Simply put, the influencer culture has zero chill.

As for Snap, a company spokesperson told Engadget that the company "was not involved in this decision to pursue this complaint."